


Sanctuary -after the battle-

by Aquaphoric



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Cloud appears too but only for one part, Disney Characters - Freeform, Lots of Crying, Multi, POV Second Person, Trauma
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-11
Updated: 2016-09-11
Packaged: 2018-08-14 13:09:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,197
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8015296
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aquaphoric/pseuds/Aquaphoric
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After you're saved from the brink of death after the keyblade war, you now live life peacefully on Destiny Islands with the Dandelions, but the war still haunts you. But, maybe, your two best friends might be able to help.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sanctuary -after the battle-

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! This is my first fic on here, unbeta'd and unchecked, so I apologize if it's not good. This is also one of my first fics that I've written to myself in my spare time that isn't a silly crossover, but I tried my best!!
> 
> This fic is dedicated to my friend on tumblr, thetwilightroadtonightfall, who inspired me to make this when I found out about Skulmerayer (Skuld/Ephemera/Player) from them. They're a really cool person, and you should even see the art they made when I showed them the first part! (thetwilightroadtonightfall.tumblr.com/tagged/skulmerayer)
> 
> Also, there's a Steven Universe reference in this fic, see if you can find it :^)

You don’t remember a whole lot when you wake up. You’re pretty groggy, so you just recall the sound of thunder, the rain hitting hard on your skin, the dark gray clouds in the sky, the smell of…

You take deep inhales through your nose, everything coming back to you slowly. Being surrounded by kids around your age with giant keys -- keyblade wielders -- running into battle. The weight of your own keyblade in your hand. Hearts floating up to the sky. People with animal masks -- the Masters, the Foretellers -- attacking you. Lying down on the mud, not caring what happened to you.

You feel a weight on your chest. It’s not heavy, but it’s not light either. Is this guilt, you wonder, the sin Nightmare Chirithy had told you about? Yeah, you remember that evil looking Chirithy telling you that with the bangle you had gotten very early in your journey, you had been collecting sin and darkness, changing the name of that sin to ‘guilt’.

You bring your hand to your chest, and find that guilt feels strangely furry. You look down and smile, seeing that it’s actually your Chirithy, sleeping soundly.

You remember how after you’d laid down, Chirithy came to you, telling you ‘It’s okay, it’s alright.’ 

You remember how before the battle, you asked Chirithy ‘If I disappear, what will happen to you? Will you disappear?’ 

He was quiet for a moment before answering ‘Yeah…’

You asked him what you should do, and he told you ‘I don’t want you to disappear.’ He said it might’ve been against the will of the Foretellers, but he didn’t want you to fight, saying it not as a guide, but as a friend. You picked him up and held him close, thanking him.

You’re glad he’s here with you, you don’t know what you’d do without him. But then, you start thinking about the war. So many people died, their keyblades stuck to the ground with nobody to reclaim them, their hearts floating like leaves in the wind with nobody to return to. You two are alive, but was it really fair for only you to survive? 

No… Don’t go… 

You think, is there anything I could’ve done? Anything to stop them from fighting? To save them?

Your eyes begin to burn, sight blurring. A choked sound, close to a hiccup, escapes from you, the tears beginning to fall. You wipe them away, but they come back just as quickly. You bite your lip, trying to stop it from trembling. More sounds escape, not being able to stop thinking about the war, you don’t even notice Chirithy stir.

“Hey, it’s okay, it’s alright.” He says those same words as he did after the battle. You stiffen, looking down at him as he looks at you. You quickly wipe away your tears.

“Oh, Chirithy!” You sit up, “I didn’t notice you were-” Suddenly, a searing pain shoots through your body, forcing you back down. You remember all the wounds you obtained from the battle, but you didn’t realize how much they hurt until now.

“Woah now, you need to be careful,” Chirithy tells you, sitting up on your chest now, “You got some pretty bad scratches back there, won’t help if you’re moving so suddenly.”

Nodding, your face holds a grimace of pain as you lie down slowly. You then notice the bandages covering your body, probably from shoulder to toe. You sigh, looking up at the ceiling. You remember after Chirithy had told you his calming words, he laid on your chest, like he was doing just now, and then a white light consumed the entire area, but you don’t remember much else after that.

“Chirithy,” You ask, “How long was I asleep for?”

“A couple days, at least.” He answers.

A couple days, huh? “Hm.”

A silence passes between you two. Absentmindedly, you pet Chirithy, running fingers through his soft fur. He doesn’t seem to mind. With what you can see with your line of vision in this position, you can conduct that this is a hospital room, or maybe it was more of a hut. Next to you is a nightstand you didn’t notice at first, a pile of clothes on it along with a piece of paper.

Slowly, you reach your hand to pick it up, seeing it’s actually a note. It reads ‘Hey, your clothes got pretty dirty and ripped up during the fight, so we had to throw them away, but we got you new clothes! If you wake up, make sure to put them on.’ It doesn’t say who it’s from. Putting it down, you sigh. You don’t feel like moving right now, you’re too tired.

You don’t see the door open, but you hear a voice. “Chirithy, have they woken up yet?” 

You recognize that gentle tone. It was Skuld, the keyblade wielder with shiny black hair and golden eyes. It comes back to you that after the light appeared, Skuld came and you had called her a goddess. You smile a little.

“Yeah,” Chirithy answers, “They woke up just a bit ago.”

Tap-tap-tap sounds in the room until Skuld is leaning over you, her face as beautiful as ever. “Morning, sleepy-head.”

The smile widens as you reply in a near whisper, “Morning to you too.”

Skuld places a hand on your forehead and asks if you’re okay. You tell her you’re fine, just a little tired, but that doesn’t stop her from noticing the red in your eyes. Still, she smiles and tells you she’s glad you're okay.

“I bought some food for you, you must be hungry.” She goes away for a second, but comes back with a tray in her hands. You were so occupied with your thoughts, you didn’t notice how hungry you were. You sit up as slowly as you can so Skuld can place the tray in your lap. On it, there’s toast, bacon, eggs, and a carton of milk. Next to the toast are two small packages, one of jelly, and one of butter.

You tell her, “Thank you.” You eat your breakfast slowly, giving some of the bacon and eggs and sips of your milk to Chirithy. Once you finish, you set the tray on the nightstand next to your clothes.

You’re not so tired anymore, now that you have something in your stomach. You move so that your legs are hanging off the bed, and try to stand up. Your legs immediately give out, and Skuld catches you, sitting you back down. “Are you okay?” 

You assure her that you're fine, but your legs feel like jelly now. You decide to stand up after you put your clothes on. With some help from Skuld, you walk out the door fully clothed now, a slight limp in your step. 

When you get outside, you see a lot of keyblade wielders, those who didn’t participate in the war. There’s an island too, but it doesn’t look like there’s anyone on it.

“Come on,” Skuld urges, “We got someone to see.” She helps you walk somewhere, eventually letting you walk by yourself. You reach the middle of the island, where most of the keyblade wielders are, and in the middle of them is a silver haired boy. “Ephemera!!” Skuld calls out, and Ephemera turns around, a large smile spreading on his face as he begins to run towards you two.

You remember Ephemera. He appeared with Skuld when the bright light appeared. Your eyes filled with tears as you said, ‘You...broke our promise…’ But you weren’t angry with him. You were so happy to see him again, it had been so long.

‘We finally meet again.’ Was what he’d said in response.

You put on a big, happy smile for him. He was back. You laughed as you said, ‘You’re late…’

He smiled back. ‘Yeah, sorry…’ Reaching out his hand, the last words you remember were ‘We’ll go together.’ You reached out to his hand, but that’s where your memory stops.

You didn’t hear what Skuld and Ephemera were saying, you were too occupied with looking at Ephemera’s face, his shiny blue eyes, his silver hair. You were so happy he was back.

You didn’t notice him approach you, but when he did, he took your hands in his own, saying, “It’s nice to see you awake,” He smiled, “We were honestly a little afraid you weren’t gonna make it, your wounds were so bad, but I’m glad you're here.”

You felt like you were gonna cry again. It was nice to see Ephemera’s smile. You swallow the lump in your throat to reply to him, “Me too.” A couple of tears might’ve escaped, but Ephemera just smiled and offered to show you around the island.

Ephemera explains that he and Skuld decided to call this world ‘Destiny Islands’ and that they were gonna make houses for everyone, they had already made a small hut for you to sleep in. It wasn’t going to be Daybreak Town, no matter how much they had salvaged before they left, but they’d try to make it feel like home. Along with that, they’d train the keyblade wielders of the future, the ones next in line to protect the worlds from darkness, like they had once upon a time.

You ask about the other island, and Skuld explains that they plan to explore there too, but they wanted to wait until you woke up to do that. You feel pleased by that.

It takes you three all day just to explore the main island, and you’re pooped. The setting sun creates an array of beautiful colors, and soon those colors give way to the stars. You, Skuld, Ephemera, and Chirithy sit under them, as do everyone else. None of you talk, you just admire the stars. For a bit, you wonder, how are the other worlds? You hope they’re fine.

For the first time, it feels like everything is peaceful, sitting under a quiet night sky with your friends. But peace isn’t a forever thing, this is a fact of life you know well. Sooner or later, something will happen to break it.

\-----------------------------

A month has passed since you came to Destiny Islands, but it seems all you ever do nowadays is lay around and feel sorry for yourself. Nearly everyone on the main island has a house for themselves now, while Ephemera and Skuld built yours bigger so they could share it with you. They decided to make all the essentials -- shelter, for example -- before doing keyblade training. 

You have participated in helping make houses for people, but mostly, you just spend your time thinking about the war. You feel bad. It’s been a month, and yet you can’t stop thinking. Were there any survivors besides yourself? Do the Foretellers live on? You wish you knew. The thought that bothers you the most, though, is fantasies of you somehow stopping the war, everything going on a different path.

You wish you could stop these thoughts, for Master Ava, leader of the Vulpes Union, had told you once that sadness leads to darkness.

It’s a less frequent thought, but you wish you could go back home, back to Daybreak Town. But that’s impossible. All that’s left of your world is a graveyard of keyblades and fallen keyblade wielders. You cry about that sometimes.

It’s a small part of your heart, but you almost resent the Foretellers. They caused the war to happen, and they could’ve stopped it, but they let it happen. They caused so many innocent beings to die. At the same time, you don’t want to resent, because anger, hate, and any other negative emotion that comes to mind led to darkness. The darkness would make you disappear, which would cause Chirithy to disappear. You were brought back from the brink of death, it wouldn’t help if you lost anyway.

You don’t share your feelings about this to anyone. You don’t want to make anyone worry or bring people down, so every time you go out, you force a smile on your face. Sometimes, it feels like you have no right to feel this way. It was always possible they had lost a friend or loved one to the war.

The worst part of these thoughts is that you can’t sleep most nights. You toss and turn, but to no avail. Those thoughts love being intrusive, don’t they? You look over to Ephemera and Skuld, sleeping on a separate bed, and then to the three Chirithys sleeping on their own little bed. It might’ve been hard for someone without a Chirithy to tell the difference, but anyone could recognize their Chirithy with ease. Skuld’s Chirithy was a dark shade of grey, Ephemera’s Chirithy was teetering on being nearly all white, like his hair, and your Chirithy was like a perfect mix between the two.

You finally decide you should do something about the insomnia. Hastily throwing on some clothes, you leave the house. Looking up to the night sky, each star shines with its own brilliance, but they’re not very helpful when it’s too dark to see properly. Thankfully, you have magic, so you whip up a small flame on your hand. That’s better.

You decide the best place to go was the island you, Skuld, and Ephemera had explored the other day. Taking one of the few boats on the dock, you row to the island. On it, you feel the sand beneath your feet, but you think it feels better when the sun has warmed it up. You take a few steps into the water, and you like the feel of the mushy sand between your toes. You take a deep breath. For the moment, it seems the thoughts have decided to leave you alone. 

You soon realize that doing this was a bad idea, the water was freezing cold, and your teeth begin to chatter. You quickly dry your feet and attempt to warm yourself up again. You decide instead to walk to the small, circle shaped extension on the front of the island, and sit on the edge. You sit there for who knows how long, but it’s must’ve been a few hours, for the ebony sky began to light up into soft shades of blue, yellow, and orange and the stars slowly fade.

It reminds you of Daybreak Town.

Suddenly, Ephemera’s voice breaks the silence aside of the lapping of the waves and the running of the nearby mini-waterfall. “Hey, what are you doing here?”

You nearly fall off the edge in surprise, but catch yourself. You turn to look at him, seeing he was wearing his night clothes. “Well,” You respond, “What are you doing here?”

Ephemera takes a seat next to you, and he responds, “I noticed you left the house in the middle of the night, so I kinda followed you. You looked peaceful being by yourself, so I didn’t want to disturb you for the time being.”

You don’t reply, just look at the rising sun and listen to the birds chirp. You lay your head on his lap, and quietly comment, “This reminds me of Daybreak Town.”

Ephemera sighs, “Yeah, me too.”

Neither of you speak for a while, just breathing softly.

Then, a question comes out of your mouth, and you’re not even sure if it was just a thought out loud or intentional, but it comes out nonetheless. “Do you think...anyone besides me survived? Are the Foretellers still alive?”

Ephemera is quiet for a moment, then answers, “I’m not sure. Maybe, maybe not. We have no idea if anyone besides you survived, and if they did, we couldn’t find them.” He continues, “As for the Foretellers, they fight hard. I wouldn’t be surprised if one of them lived, or if they all perished too.”

That doesn’t give you much comfort. You think of asking him if it’s okay to resent them a little, but you hold your tongue. Instead, you say, “I miss them.” 

“The Foretellers?”

“No, my friends.”

“Oh.”

A silence befalls you two once again. Suddenly, tears are running down your face, and you let them fall. You give quiet sniffles as you grip Ephemera’s pants. Your voice is high as you sob, “I miss them so much…I wish they were still here...” 

Ephemera strokes soft fingers against your head, his voice gentle, “I know, I know. It’s okay…”

You stay like that for a bit, until the sobs wear themselves out and the sun dries your tears. All that’s left is shaky breaths and the lingering regret of not being able to save your friends, who had given their lives fighting in the war. 

Afterwards, you sit yourself up, wipe your face as Ephemera rubs your back in comfort, and the two of you return to the main island.

When you get back home, you fall on your bed and, for the first time in a while,sleep comfortably. You end up sleeping well into the afternoon.

\---------------------

Two months have gone by, and those thoughts still intrude your mind. You’ve learned to push them down. You still haven’t told anyone about your feelings, but it’s fine, people are fine not knowing.

People have been doing training matches with their keyblades, usually with each other, Ephemera, or Skuld. They take turns, and now it’s your turn. It’ll be the first time you’ve used the keyblade since the war, and you hope nothing goes wrong.

Skuld is helping you prepare when she suddenly puts her hand to your forehead. “You feel really hot,” She observes, “Your face is kinda red, and you’re sweating a little.”

“Huh?” You never noticed, but now that it’s been brought to your attention, your face does feel a little warm, and you’ve been having a small headache since this morning. “It’s nothing, don’t worry. It’s probably just the island heat.”

“I don’t know, it seems more like a fever to me.” She tells you, but you don’t listen.

You reply, “It’s fine, Skuld! If it really is a fever, I’ll stop the training so it can be dealt with.”

Skuld sighs, but allows you to train anyway.

In the town square, Ephemera stands on the other side from you, his Starlight keyblade held firmly in hand. Your hand clenches around the handle of your own Starlight. Taking a deep breath, you await for Skuld to announce the start of the match.

She yells out that for today’s training session, it would be you and Ephemera for today. “Ready…” Ephemera gets into position. “Set…” You get into position as well. “...Go!”

You immediately run toward each other, keyblades clanging, throwing the other backwards. You’re feeling that maybe you’re getting better at pushing your thoughts down, until you race toward Ephemera, and suddenly an image flashes through your mind.

Master Ava.

You gasp and fall, seeing Master Ava for just one more moment before you come back to reality, and see Ephemera’s worried face instead. You realize what just happened, and assure him that you just suddenly lost your balance, resuming the match. Your face is feeling really hot, and a chill runs through you, but you just blame it on the exercise of the match.

You try to focus, but the images of the Foretellers -- Master Ira, Master Invi, Master Gula -- keep flashing through your head, back when you had fought them in the war. You think you’re doing good ignoring them, even though your face is as hot as the fire the Fire Bandit heartless would breath, probably as red as a ruby, and as sweaty as you were the first time you went to Agrabah, until Ephemera knocks you down. You attempt to block his oncoming attacks, but then, the last Foreteller you wanted to see flashes before you.

Master Aced.

You don’t know why, but you suddenly feel sick. You start to back away as much as you can, shaking your head vigorously. The image does not disappear, even though Ephemera has stopped. Your headache is pounding now, it hurts, it hurts so much. The pain is unbearable. You’re back at the muddy battlefield, the rain is pounding once again, the thunder is deafening in your ears. You hug yourself, curling into fetal position, feeling like you’re going to throw up, and you might actually do that. You think you can hear Ephemera call your name, you don’t know.

You think you hear Skuld call out the end of the match, you’re not sure. Everything seems really distant now. You’re breathing heavily, you’re clutching your stomach, tears spill from your eyes. Everything hurts. You barely register someone, you don’t know who, picking you up. You can’t register anything as everything goes dark.

You wake up sometime later. From the looks of it, you had been passed out until late afternoon, or maybe twilight. You feel an ice pack on your head. Skuld is nearby the window, the sun giving her a slight halo effect, like an angel.

You groan, “What...happened?” Your throat feels really sore.

You think Skuld might’ve jumped a little, but you're not sure. Everything is still coming back to you, and your headache still hurts.

“You passed out during your match with Ephemera. We brought you home, gave you some medicine and an ice pack.” Skuld explains, and tells you that you’re going to stay home with her until your fever breaks, even though Ephemera insisted he stay with you instead. You exhale, feeling really weak.

You lay an arm over your eyes, thinking about the images you saw of the Foretellers, wondering just what they were about. Suddenly, Skuld asks you, “By the way, you seemed really freaked out, what happened?”

You ponder if you should tell her what you saw, but you know it wouldn’t help if you lied. “I...saw the Foretellers, during the match.”

Skuld freezes. You continue.

“It was during the war, they fought me. But I freaked out when I saw Master Aced instead of Ephemera.”

Everything is quiet for a moment. The silence breaks when Skuld asks you, “Why?”

You tell her the whole truth about what happened with him -- that he attacked you, claiming he wanted your power for his own Union, that even after he knocked you down, he kept on attacking, that Master Ira saved you.

Skuld doesn’t respond. You start to feel bad for telling her this. Everyone admired the Masters in some way, so you think maybe you shouldn’t have told her that one of them purposely attacked you, or that you fought them.

“I-I’m sorry,” You stutter, “I should’ve kept quiet, I know how much everyone looked up to the Masters and-”

Skuld interrupts you, “No, no, it’s fine. I appreciate you telling me.”

Honestly, you’re a little surprised. You would’ve expected someone to react like ‘What? But the Masters would never do something like that!’ You’re a little glad too that Skuld didn’t completely freak out.

“Thank you for understanding.” You say quietly. 

Your eyes become heavy and droopy, giving a loud yawn. Resting your head on the soft pillow, you slowly drift into sleep, into your own dreamland.

It might’ve just been your imagination, but you thought you felt the ice pack being removed from your forehead, a kiss being placed there, and the ice pack being put back. You smile in your sleep.

\----------------

It’s been four months since you came to Destiny Islands. Two months since you had panicked during your training match with Ephemera and had to stay home because of a nasty fever. Since then, Ephemera and Skuld gave you the choice of either watching the matches, or leaving to the other island until the day’s matches are over. You choose the latter. You feel that if you were to watch the matches, you’d get reminded of the war even more.

Sometimes, though, you do some private training by yourself. You summon your keyblade and attack walls or rocks with it, this way no memories come back and you can train peacefully.

Until, one day, you can’t summon it. It just happens. You try, but the familiar weight, that handle you grip with ease, only appear for a moment before disappearing.

You try, and try, and try, but to no use. You’re beginning to freak out -- why can’t you summon it? What happened?

You begin to think, I can’t let Ephemera and Skuld see this! They can’t know I can’t get it to appear! You’re so ashamed, you want to hide, but where? They explored the island with you, so they know all the nook and crannies. Well, maybe not every nook and cranny.

You begin searching the walls for something, a secret, anything that helps you.

You’re searching near the big tree when the cover of leaves near the corner, where it meets the wall, isn’t actually a dead end. You nearly fall through it, but you catch your balance. 

Parting the leaves, you find a dark tunnel, big enough so you don’t have to crouch too much, leading into a little room. The walls are barren aside from the growth of vines, and there’s mushrooms growing inside too. But the thing you least expected in there was a door.

Yes, a door. It’s round, with golden lining. Carefully, as if it were a delicate illusion, you run your fingernails over it. Yep, it’s definitely real wood. You wonder where in the world this came from. From what Ephemera told you, nobody inhabited this world until you guys came along, so there’s no reason for the door to be here. You notice there’s no handle on it, and think for a moment that a keyblade might be able to open it before you remember; no keyblade.

Deciding to leave door thoughts for another time, you sit down against a wall, and begin asking yourself and wondering why your weapon won’t appear.

You have no idea how long you’ve been thinking now, and you don’t care, for you’ve finally come to a conclusion to your thoughts.

You have become unworthy.

Yes, those untold thoughts have turned into darkness inside you, and now your keyblade has decided you unworthy to wield it. It was your fault, really. You allowed those thoughts to continue to fester in your mind, and now it has consumed part of your heart.

You laugh and bury your head between your knees. How pitiful are you to hide from your friends, just cause you can no longer wield the keyblade? Tears are running down your cheeks. You hate crying, you hate it so much, and yet you can’t help but do it.

You’re so lost in the pity for yourself, you don’t notice the sounds you let out, or the sounds of your name being called. It’s only when the leaves swish and a kind voice gently calls your name do you turn your probably red, puffy face up to the two figures, blurry through your tears.

“Hey,” Ephemera’s voice is soft, “Are you okay?”

He kneels and reaches out to touch your face. You put your face back between your knees in response. You wish they didn’t have to see you like this. “Don't look at me.”

If you are unfit to wield the keyblade, then you are surely unfit to be friends with Ephemera and Skuld. They are beings of the light, hardly touched by the darkness, and you have let your heart to be wrapped up in it, the light deep down inside you not allowing you to disappear within darkness.

“Please, tell us what’s wrong.” Skuld pleads. You scrunch your legs closer to you.

Ephemera’s hand is suddenly stroking through your hair, gentle as always. “You can tell us, it’s okay. Take your time.” He tells you.

It takes you a second, but you shake off Ephemera’s hand and uncurl yourself. Even though you don’t look up at them, you clear your voice as much as you can before confessing. “I…” Your voice is still pretty thick, but you continue, “I sometimes do secret training with my keyblade here when I’m alone, but today, I couldn’t summon it. I-I was so ashamed of myself, I found this secret place and decided to hide from you. I’m sorry.” Closing your eyes, you press your hands against them and begin to cry again, letting the little gasps, whimpers, and sobs loose.

You wouldn't blame them if they thought you were pathetic for crying like this. Crying was for babies and small children, not a teenager who was once tasked to protect the worlds from darkness. Aside from you, everything is quiet.

Then, one of them pulls you into a hug. You cry against their shoulder as the other rubs your back. You’re not released from the hug until the only sounds you’re making are deep, controlled breaths, and you will yourself not to start shedding even more tears. You’re still not looking at them until Skuld gently grasps your chin, and you look up at them. Taking part of his scarf, Ephemera hands it to you, and you take it as an incentive to wipe your face clean of the mess.

Each of them takes your hands and lead you outside to the beach, where they sit you down. You three watch the setting sun in silence, admiring it’s beauty.

The silence is broken by Ephemera as he leans back on his hands. “So, you can’t wield the keyblade anymore, huh?”

“Uh, yeah, I guess.” You reply.

Ephemera asks, “Why were you so worried about it, then? About us finding you?”

“I felt like...like I couldn’t tell you.” You explain to them that wielding the keyblade was the reason for your existence, as well as everyone else, wasn’t it? If you couldn’t wield it anymore, then what other purpose was there for you?

Skuld puts a hand on your shoulder. “You’ve got it all wrong,” She tells you, “Our keyblades aren’t the reason we exist, nor is it our purpose. And who cares if you can’t wield it anymore? You’ve got a lot of other good qualities!”

“Yeah!” Ephemera agrees. He begins to count off his fingers, “Like you could make food, do repair stuff, make art, help out the Moogles with their shops, anything!”

Well, at least you’re starting to feel a bit better. They’re right, you don’t need to wield the keyblade to have a purpose. But still, you think you’d miss the weight of it in your hands.

As if Skuld has read your thoughts, she says, “And hey, if you wanna continue being a keyblade wielder, we’ll make a fake keyblade for you until you get yours back.”

You smile at her, and she and Ephemera smile back. You wrap your arms around them. “Thank you, guys. You’re the best.”

As the sun’s last rays of light fade away, you three stand up, wipe away the sand from your clothes, and go back to your boats. 

“Once we get home,” Ephemera says, “We’re gonna make a special dinner, just for you.”

\------------------

Seven months you have been on Destiny Islands. Three since you lost use of the keyblade.

You hate the keyblade.

You’ve been training as much as you can with the fake Ephemera and Skuld gave you, and it still hasn’t come back. You try, and try, and try, and it refuses. It feels like you’ve lost a part of your heart.

In your spare time, you try the stuff Ephemera suggested you, along with some other things. You’re pretty good at cooking, you’ve even made a few original things. The Moogles like you as an employee, even though they make you wear a dumb Moogle outfit. You’re not that good at repairing, you always hurt your fingers or get a bad scrape. You’ve planted gardens for people with flowers people brought from other worlds.

But it doesn’t fill the gaping hole.

You bring back the thoughts from months ago, and decide you hate something else too.

You hate the Foretellers.

The Foretellers are the reason for this. If they hadn’t started the war, if they had just left everything in peace, this wouldn’t be happening. But they did start the war, and now your friends are dead and you can’t summon your keyblade. By this point, you don’t care if the darkness consumes you. You’re just tired of everything.

The darkness of your thoughts has brought your mood down immensely. You act nice in public, but you wouldn’t be surprised if someone noticed your near constant bad mood. They haven’t brought it up though. Chirithy has asked you a couple times if you’re okay, and you’ve told him you’re fine.

The time you’re most annoyed is when you overhear people saying stuff about the Foreteller of the Union they belonged to, like they miss them, they wished they were still here, they loved them, blah blah blah. It annoys you so much. The Foretellers were the reason for the war, the reason so many people are dead, but it wasn’t your business to intrude on their conversation and tell them that. If they wanted to talk about their Foreteller positively, you let them.

You’re like a balloon full of too much air, yet you don’t pop. Until someone brings a needle to that balloon.

You’re sure they didn’t mean to make you pop.

They were just sitting there, having an innocent conversation about their Masters, and you were walking by in a bad mood, as usual. You mind your business, until one of them says, “I mean, who doesn't love the Masters?”

You meant to say it under your breath, but it comes out louder than intended when you scoff, “Not me.”

They turn to look at you as you walk away. They follow you. “What do you mean, ‘not me’?” One of them says. 

You’re not feeling up to this right now, but respond anyway, “I just don’t, okay?”

“But why?” The other says, sounding offended. “Didn’t you like your Master once?”

They’re bringing the needle close. “I did, once, now I don’t. Simple as that.”

Now they both sound offended, seeming insistent on bothering you. “But why? I mean, your Master loved you, didn’t they? And you loved them, didn’t you?”

The needle’s getting closer. You don’t respond this time, it’ll get you nowhere.

The other’s voice now sounds annoyed as they say, “Well? Didn’t you?” No reply. “Hmph, you should be ashamed of yourself. They trained you so hard to be a proper keyblade wielder, and this is how you repay them? Ugh, it’s like you don’t deserve keyblade even, the Masters were amazing people and-”

Pop.

It happens in just one second. The girl is on the ground, holding her cheek. Your hand stings. You back away. Her friend leans down to their side, and they look at you like a monster. No, no this wasn’t meant to happen. 

Before you know it, your legs are moving and you’re running to the docks. You get on one of the boats, but it flips over. You don’t bother getting back on, you swim the rest of the way. You’re so desperate to get away.

Once on the island, you run to the hidden place, where you fall and crumple up on the ground, curling into a ball. You’re so ashamed of yourself. Why couldn’t you have just kept quiet? Now that girl was probably gonna tell Ephemera or Skuld on you, and who knows what they’d do?

Tears well up as you bite your lip. Only a sob escapes as they slide down your face and onto the ground. You stay there like that, not caring how much time passes.

You wake up, not even realizing you’ve cried yourself to sleep. Or how cold you are. You shake out the dirt in your hair and step outside. The midday sun beats down hard, you have to cover your squinting eyes from its bright light.

The sand is warm beneath your feet as you walk onto the beach. A shiver runs through you as you realize just how soaking wet your clothes are. Maybe swimming the rest of the way wasn’t such a good idea.

You still feel guilty for slapping the girl, but you try not to think about it. You just look at the ocean, seeing how it goes far beyond the horizon of gentle blue. A gentle wind blows.

Before, you never could have dreamed of other worlds. But now, everything feels different. There are worlds beyond that horizon, too many to count, and you helped save them. Everything feels small, especially with no fighting heartless for seven months. Still, you’re content being on Destiny Islands with Skuld and Ephemera and everyone else.

Even though your clothes aren’t dry yet, the sun warms up your skin and dries your hair. It feels so nice.

Eventually, you go to the more secluded part of the island, hidden from view. There’s a separation of land between the entrance and the rest of it, so you, Skuld, and Ephemera built a bridge between the gap to make it easier to cross. You’ve also been planning to build a zipline, but only part of it is done so far. Aside from that, there’s not really much to it, just a small cliff and some greenery. Nearby, a couple of white butterflies rest on some flowers.

You know you can’t live on this island and avoid everyone else, you’re going to have to face reality sooner or later. You just want to have some monumental peace.

Finally, you go back to the front part of the island as twilight begins to appear. On the beach, you see two figures in the distance on the main island. You sigh. Ephemera and Skuld. Looks like that person did tell them and they were waiting for you to come back. Thankfully, there’s a spare boat on the dock so you don't have to either swim all the way back or yell to them to bring a boat. As you row your way back, a lump grows in your stomach, like you just swallowed a rock.

Back on the main island, you keep your head down as you force yourself to walk up to Ephemera and Skuld. Then, you force yourself to look at them, looking away guiltily a moment later.

Ephemera asks, “Why did you hit that girl?”

You rub your hand up your arm, mumbling, “I dunno.”

“She told us she and her friend were just talking about the Foretellers when you smacked her.” Skuld’s voice is stern.

Your head heats up as she says that. “That’s not true!” You exclaim. “Y-yeah, she was talking about the Foretellers, but I didn’t hit her for no reason!”

“Then why?” Skuld questions, “Why did you hit her?”

You feel your lip purse and your eyes water, but you hold them back. “She...she told me I don't deserve the keyblade.”

It’s Ephemera this time, “What? Why?”

It wouldn’t help to lie now, they’d just get mad at you if you said you didn’t know. You look away as you confess, “Because...I said I didn’t like the Masters.”

They’re quiet before Skuld asks, “...Why don’t you like them?”

You keep your mouth shut. You feel as if you talked, you’d explode into tears, but you still think about all the reasons why you don’t like them.

“Well?” Ephemera presses.

Your nose heats up, your lip purses. You reply, “You...you wanna know why I don’t like the Masters?”

They don’t reply. You turn to them, your brow furrowed and eyes closed as you continue, “They caused the war. They could’ve have stopped it, but they allowed it to happen. Now, because of them, so many innocent people -- no, teenagers, children -- are gone. It’s because of them, my friends are dead and I couldn’t do anything about it!” Your voice is thick, but you don't stop yelling, “I don’t just not like them, I resent them! I hate them so much! I don’t want to hate them, because if I do then the darkness might consume me, but I can’t help it! It’s because of them that my friends, along with hundreds if not thousands of teenagers, are dead! In fact, you should’ve just let me die with them!”

You open your eyes, and big, fat, and hot tears unsurprisingly spring from them, rolling down your face. “I couldn’t save anybody! So...maybe she was right! Maybe I don't deserve the keyblade! Besides, what kind of keyblade wielder can’t save the people they care about most? What kind of keyblade wielder would willingly let themselves be consumed by hatred and anger, by the darkness? Maybe that’s why mine hasn’t come back, because I’ve become unworthy of having it!”

You fall to your knees, hugging yourself, sobbing, “I’m sorry…”

You’re sure the entire island could hear your sob-choked screams, you were so loud. Everything feels terrible.

Then, after a minute, Skuld walks up to you. She kneels to you, and tries to place her arms around you in a hug best she can with you in this position. After she lets you go, she places a gentle hand on your jaw, turning your head up to face her. “Sorry for what?” She asks.

You sniffle, wipe away your tears and answer, “That you have to deal with me.”

Ephemera kneels too, and asks you, “How come you never told us this before?”

You cast your eyes low and reply, “I know you guys loved your Foreteller, as did everyone else with their Foreteller, and I didn’t want to bring anybody down by saying that I resented the Masters. A-and sometimes I felt that I had no right to feel this way because I knew it was possible someone here lost friends to the war too, so I kept quiet.” A couple more tears slide down your cheek.

Skuld wipes them away with her thumb. She sighs, “We’re the ones that should be sorry. We were trying so hard to make you comfortable to adjust that we never asked how you felt after the battle.” She hugs you again, and asks for forgiveness.

You laugh, “You think I wouldn’t forgive you?” You give a loose hug back to her.

Ephemera places a hand on your shoulder and tells you that it was completely okay to think those thoughts, but not to the point where it became too much. “Remember, you can always come to us for talking to if you ever need help, okay?”

After Skuld lets you go, you smile at them and thank them for giving a much needed talk to you, and apologize again for keeping it all in. For some reason, your heart feels lighter now.

The three of you stand up, and begin to walk back home, but not before Skuld reminds you that tomorrow you have to apologize to the girl you slapped.

\------------------

A year has passed since you came to Destiny Islands, and everything feels so much better now.

After you told Ephemera and Skuld about your feelings toward the Masters after the war, you silently promised yourself to go to them if you’re having problems. The next day, you apologized to the girl you slapped, who in turn forgave you and apologized for how she talked to you. 

Some weeks later, you finally got your keyblade back, an exciting event for all of you. Skuld and Ephemera even held a small ‘congratulations on getting your keyblade back’ party.

Speaking of, for some reason you could never get your mind off the two of them. Over the course of the year, they helped you with your problems, supported you, comforted you, etc. Your trauma over the war was never going to go away, but it still gave you peace knowing they’d help you. 

Whenever you thought of them or were with them, your heart always had this burst of warmth that made you feel good.

One day, after a particularly busy day with them, you collapse on your bed. Sighing, you hold one of your pillows close, running the day’s events through your head, smiling wide at any that involved Skuld and Ephemera.

“Must’ve had a pretty good day, huh?” Chirithy asks, sitting on your nightstand.

You chuckle, “Yeah.”

Chirithy asks what happened that day, and you tell him mostly about what you did with Ephemera and Skuld, sometimes being so wrapped with giggles of happiness to continue. “They’re just...just so great! And…” Then, you notice Chirithy giving you a look. “What?”

He lets it out bluntly. “You love them.”

You’re confused. Why would Chirithy state something so obvious? “Well, of course I love them. They’re my best friends.”

Chirithy continues giving the look. “Okay, but don’t you wanna be more than best friends?”

You hug your pillow closer. More? “Well, maybe…They always make me feel happy, I always get this feeling of warmth around them, I’d do anything for them just as they would me…” You think about the reasons you’d want to be more with them, and then realize, “Oh my god I do wanna be more than just best friends.”

Chirithy smiles. “Now that you’ve realized your feelings, why don't you tell them how you feel?”

“What?!” You exclaim, “Chirithy, are you crazy?! I-I mean, what if they don’t reciprocate my feelings…? What if they’d just prefer being friends and I end up making it weird for all of us?”

You hug the pillow tighter, and Chirithy places a paw on your hand, “Don’t worry, I know just the thing to ease the tension of telling them -- take them on a date.”

“A date?”

“Yes, a date,” Chirithy confirms, “That way, you give yourself time to revise how you’re going to tell them your feelings after the date.”

Yeah, yeah a date sounded good now that you thought about it. You let out a deep exhale and thank Chirithy. In response, he tells you he’ll even help with the preparations. You both decide to start tomorrow, after you get a good night’s rest.

The following morning, you wake up with Chirithy before anyone else and start the preparations. You want this to be perfect, it’s only fair to Ephemera and Skuld, who have done so much to help you.

You come back just as Skuld and Ephemera are leaving the house. You wave to them, “Hey, guys!”

They smile at you, give you a hug and a good morning. “Hey, um,” You begin, “I got a suggestion for today.”

They look at you with questioning eyes. “Why don’t we have a day-off? I mean, it’s been a year since we came to Destiny Islands, so shouldn’t we have a day-off as an anniversary thing?”

“Y’know,” Ephemera says, “They’re right. It has been a year since we came, so we all definitely deserve a day off.” He pats your back, “What a good idea.”

You sigh, glad that the idea worked. Later, as everyone gathers in the square, Ephemera announces that there shall be a day off, idea courtesy of you. Now, that everyone has free time, you can get your dating plan in motion.

“Great,” You chuckle, “Now that we have some free time, I prepared something very special for today. C’mon.” Using your keyblade, you open up a portal to another world, and the three of you step through it.

The birds chirp happily. The leaves and flowers swish in the gentle wind. The river runs smoothly and calmly. It’s a perfect place to be for relaxation.

“Well, here we are -- Dwarf Woodlands!” You exclaim to Ephemera and Skuld.

They ask why they’re here, and you explain that you visited Snow White, the princess of this world, and told her that you’d be bringing some friends here. “She got so excited, she suggested that we could make apple pie together! But we gotta pick the apples first.” You continue to tell them that Snow told you the best place for apple picking, leading them there, and go on with the fact that she said you had come at just the right time, for the apples were ripe this time of year.

At the apple orchard, you three pick as many good apples as you can hold in your arms. At one point, you caught Ephemera trying to take a bite out of an apple. You glared at him. He stopped, then stuck his tongue out to try and lick it. You glared at him harder, your eyes probably piercing him. He put the apple in his arm and continued picking more. You’re pretty sure the two of them had a couple of apples stuffed down their shirts, but you’re also guilty of this crime.

Once you were sure you had picked enough apples for Snow, you led them to castle where she resided. It was big and grand, perfect for a princess.

You knock on the door three times and loudly call out, “Snow White, I’m back! And I brought my friends too, like I said!”

A minute later, a girl answers the door. A pleased expression covers her face, and then a look of surprise as she sees Skuld and Ephemera. “Why, you didn’t tell me these two were your friends! We could make four pies!”

“Wait, what?” How does she already know them?

Snow explains that they all met in the past, helping her in some way. ‘Oh’ is all you can say in response.

She leads you inside the castle, and it’s just as big on the inside as it is the outside. It makes you wonder how lucky Snow White is to live in such a grand place.

Snow takes you to the just as big kitchen, enough space for a bunch of cooks, even though there were currently none in sight. There, you all let your apples onto one of the counters, and Snow begins to give instructions on what ingredients you’ll need, like butter, sugar, flour, etc. and other stuff, like bowls. Once you get all of the instructed items and set them on the counter as well, Snow assigns you and herself as the makers of the pie filling while she assigns Ephemera and Skuld to roll out the dough.

After making the dough for them and tipping them to put flour on the rolling pin, you and Snow start on making the filling by peeling the apples and slicing them. You make good conversation with her, exchanging certain events. Snow White informs that she’s been having regular visits to the seven dwarfs in the woods. In return, you inform her of the good events at Destiny Islands.

At one point, Skuld puts flour in her hair, saying, “Hey Ephemera, now I have white hair like you!” That turns into a small play fight with flour between the two. They stop when you clear your voice, and give them a look. Skin looking as white as Snow’s, they return to rolling out the dough.

When all the preparations are finished, Snow cuts off the excess dough and spells each of your names on three of the pies, unfortunately not being able to spell Ephemera’s whole name, so it turns out as ‘Ephemer’. After she puts them in the oven, you all clean up everything. To pass the time while they cook, Snow White takes you on tour of her castle, even introducing you three to her prince and some of the servants.

A couple of hours later, you all return to the kitchen to take the pies of the kitchen. A wonderful aroma fills your nose as they’re taken out of the oven. They look delicious as well, you really want to take a bite, but you remind yourself the pies need to cool down first before they can be eaten.

“Wow,” Skuld exclaims, “They look amazing! I can’t wait to have a piece.”

“Yep.” Ephemera agrees, even though he keeps looking at the pie with Ephemer on it.

Snow prepares plates, forks, and asks what kind of drinks you all want during the cooling period. When she finishes, she tests the heat of the crust of the pie with no name and begins to cut it into four even, neat slices, and hands your plates to you.

You all blow on them as hard as you can, and you take a piece in your mouth. Though it feels like fire, you brave it and swallow anyway, taking a huge drink afterwards. When you finish along with Ephemera and Skuld and put your stuff away, Snow prepares a big basket for the other pies to be put in.

As you leave, you tell Snow, “Thank you for having us, making the pies was really fun! I hope we can see each other again.” She tells you it was no problem and sends you on your way with the basket.

Walking away, Skuld asks if there’s anything else they were going to do today. You smile and open a portal in response, and lead them through it.

The sun shines down. The wind blows some sand along. It would be the perfect place if you were a desert dwelling animal.

“Agrabah huh?” Ephemera asks, “Why did you take us here?” He starts to take off his scarf and place it in his bag. A heavy scarf isn’t the best choice of clothing for a world where the sun shines constantly.

“Well,” You begin, “We still have a bunch of munny from a while ago, right? I thought it was a little unfair that it was just sitting in our pockets barely being used, so I decided the market place in Agrabah was the best place to spend it. Besides, they have stuff that could certainly brighten up our home.”

They agree with you, taking out their munny as they walk into the market.

Many voices call out what they’re selling and things that will make people want to buy them. ‘Try this! Your taste buds will dance and sing!’ ‘No pots finer in brass or silver!’ ‘Sugar dates, sugar dates and figs, sugar dates and pistachios!’

Ephemera decides to buy a couple of pots, some flowers from another stand, and a few pretty things and some paint for the bare vases. He nearly gets his arms overloaded until you buy some bags to put the things in. He thanks you for the help, and continues searching the market.

A man at a stand holds up a jewel necklace to Skuld. “Would the lady like a necklace? A pretty necklace for a pretty lady.”

Skuld buys it, along with some earrings and another necklace. She shows them off to you and asks if they’re alright. You give a thumbs up in response.

You’re not sure what to buy, everything looks so good, especially the food. Eventually, you buy some fruits, vegetables, some meat, a few sweets, and a couple loafs of bread.

In the middle of your shopping, you three decide to watch a fire eater, stunned and amazed when he breaths it out. You nudge Ephemera and chuckle, “Doesn’t it remind you of those Fire Bandit Heartless?”

“Yeah,” He replies, “Now that I think about it.”

Skuld laughs quietly, “Maybe he’s a Fire Bandit in disguise.”

You all get a laugh out of that, and continue with your shopping. Sometimes you pass by other performances, like a buff guy flexing and showing off his muscles. You chuckle and flex your own muscles, Ephemera and Skuld smiling as they do the same. You all have fine muscle, though it’s pretty much expected when you have to carry something for months and wave it around.

Once you finish your shopping, you prepare to leave the market place for your next destination, until you happen to look down an alleyway. There, you see a couple of small children, a boy and a girl, probably no older than seven years old, digging through the trash. They look in your direction, and begin to back away.

“Hey, hey, it’s okay.” You hold your hand out and speak in a gentle voice. “I’m not gonna hurt you.”

You look through your bags, and pick out some of the fruits and sweets you bought. Slowly, you ease your way towards them, and give them the food. They’re hesitant to take it.

“C’mon,” You assure them, “It’s okay, you can have them.”

The girl takes the fruit while the boy takes the sweets, and they giggle with happiness. It makes you smile knowing you made someone happy. You soon take your leave and return to Skuld and Ephemera, who apparently didn’t notice you were gone.

They don’t even have to ask where they’re going next before you open up another portal, and they step into it without wonder.

The clouds roll by. The sun shines, but not as hot as it was for Agrabah. It’s perfect for those heroes-in-training.

Skuld makes an oooo sound as she looks around the place. “This is the Olympus Coliseum, right?”

“Mm-hmm!” You reply. “We’re here because I found out Hercules and Phil were hosting another game, so I decided to sign up!”

Speak of the devil, Phil appears just as you say that. You were gonna say hi to him, but instead he scolds you for nearly being late for the games and rushes you in for preparation, completely ignoring the other two. You give a smile before disappearing into the building.

After all your preparations are complete, you go to stand in the ring with the other contestant and wait for the beginning of the match, holding onto your keyblade. You look to the crowd, hoping you can find Ephemera and Skuld. You find them easily, though it’s pretty easy to find white hair. Skuld is waving a small flag around, obviously for you, and Ephemera is holding onto a bucket of popcorn and a soda. How popcorn and soda exist in the time Hercules’ world is set in, you will never find the answer.

Finally, they’re calling out the beginning of the match. You wink and give a thumbs up at the two in the crowd before facing the other person. Closing your eyes, you take a deep breath and remind yourself; this is not the keyblade war, this is not the keyblade war, this is not the keyblade war.

The match begins, and there are a few times where it nearly ends up like your training match with Ephemera all those months ago, but you take a deep breath, remind yourself this isn't the war, and look at your friends in the crowd. Everything’s okay. You manage to keep your cool, and you win the match.

The matches continue, and you continue to win. They allow you breaks in between to rest and meet the next person you’re going to fight. You have to admit, they’re all pretty formidable, but you’ve faced tougher Heartless than them.

Now, it’s the break before the last match, but you haven’t got a chance to meet the last guy. Phil told you that he was busy with his own preparations, but you’re kinda getting nervous now. What if he’s way too strong for you? No, no, this isn’t the time to be thinking about this. Besides, who cares if you lose against this last guy? At least you’ve had fun during the games.

Then, as you’re taking a sip of water, there’s a knock on the door. “May I come in?” It’s a guy’s voice, and somehow familiar.

“Uh, yeah, sure! Door’s unlocked.” You respond. Maybe it’s the last guy so you can talk to him.

The door swings open, and comes in a blond, young adult with a near unchanging look on his face. You nearly choke on your water when you look at him.

It was Cloud, someone you’d fought when you participated in the games a long time ago. He was tough one to beat, but you managed somehow.

“C-Cloud! I didn’t expect to see you here, it’s been a while.” You say to him.

“Yeah, it’s certainly been.” He replies as he sits next to you. He asks you how life’s been treating you, and just like with Snow White, you tell him about all the good things that have been happening at Destiny Islands. In turn, you ask him what he’s doing here.

He answers, “I just saw that the games were starting again, so I signed up. Hopefully I don’t get tricked by Hades this time.” 

“Yeah,” You chuckle, “That certainly wouldn’t be good.”

He gives you a glance, but stays silent. You stay silent too, sans some hums and a couple of quiet songs to yourself, and it seems you two have nothing more to talk about.

A little later, Phil comes in the room to tell you two the final match is starting in about a minute. “Well,” Cloud says as he stands up, “I guess I should get going.”

“Yeah.” That’s all you can say. Then, as he’s walking out, you exclaim, “Wait!”

He looks back to you as you stretch out your hand. “Good luck out there, Cloud.”

You can’t tell over his red scarf, but you think he might’ve smiled under it. He takes your hand with his golden claws and shakes it, “Good luck to you too.” With that, he walks out.

A minute later, you walk out of the resting room, take your place on the ring across from Cloud, who’s wielding his weapon, a sword nearly as big as he is, and the match begins.

You whip out your Treasure Trove keyblade, since you remember Cloud being a speed-based enemy; enemies like him were weak against power-based weapons, like Treasure Trove. But just because you have the type advantage doesn’t mean this fight is going to be easy, the first fight against Cloud was hard enough.

This turns to be true, as Cloud suddenly takes the first turn, paralyzing you with his first move. You cast cure and use a panacea, an item that cures all status ailments. You retaliate with thirteen hits, all in complete succession. That’s not enough to get Cloud on the ground though, as he strikes with four hits that dangerously reduces your health. You cast cure once again, and continue the fight.

It goes on for a few minutes, you both giving it your all. Sometimes you can hear Skuld and Ephemera cheering on your name and whooping, and that gives you some motivation.

The two of you are breathing hard, nearing each of your limits. You’ve run out of magic to use cure, along with potions and panaceas. Cloud is obviously worn out too, and you decide to end this.

You power up, gathering up all your strength into you and your keyblade, and Cloud does the same. Once you’re sure you’re at 100%, you rush towards each other, the force of both your powers colliding and creating a fierce explosion, covering the ring in smoke. 

The crowd is silent as the ring clears up and find you’re both in the spots you were at the beginning of the match, with weapons raised and unmoving. The space is heavy, almost choking with the anticipation in the air.

Everything is quiet, until the deafening silence is broken by a single noise -- Cloud grunts, and slumps to the ground.

The crowd goes wild, confetti flying everywhere. Their cheers are loud, but out of all of them, Ephemera and Skuld are the loudest. You laugh as you fall to the ground too and smile. “I’m the champ!” You call out, and the crowd’s cheer grows louder.

Later, once you’ve regained your strength, they give you your reward to show off. Skuld and Ephemera are by your sides, congratulating you for your win. You’re facing them as Cloud approaches you. He sticks out his hand and simply says, “Good game.”

You smile at him as you shake his hand and say, “Good game.”

You three exit the coliseum with the reward and your stuff from Agrabah when Skuld says, “Jeez, anybody else hungry? It’s almost dinner time.”

You grin and reply to her, “Well, today is your lucky day, cause I got something special planned for last. ‘Save the best for last’ as they say.” With that, you open up another portal.

The stars shine brightly. The crickets chirp loudly. Aside from that, it’s quiet. A perfect place for a romantic scene.

“So, you had the Beast’s Castle for last.” Ephemera observes, tilting his head back to look at the very top of the castle.

“Yeah,” You respond, “I got something very special planned here.” 

You lead them to the door, and knock three times. Almost immediately, the door opens. A coat rack gives a bow of courtesy to you, and you bow back. Signaling for Skuld and Ephemera to come in, you three enter the castle, where the coat rack takes all your stuff, and are lead by another object to the dining room.

In there, a medium sized table lays with three chairs. On it are napkin wrapped silverware, menus, a flower vase in the middle and a couple of lit candles. You and the other two take your seats, and take a look at your menus.

“Man,” Ephemera mumbles, “Everything looks so good, I have no idea what to choose…”

“I know…” Skuld replies, frantically flipping through the menu.

You giggle, as you’re having having a tough time choosing too. Ephemera is right, everything does look delicious.

In the background, you can hear a violin playing a calming tune. With it, the twangs of a harp, or maybe it’s a piano, play along, creating a soothing melody that could probably lull you to sleep.

As you’re still choosing, a stroller rolls over to your table, and on it is Mrs. Potts, one of the residents of the Castle. “Would you like a nice spot of tea, my dears?” She asks to all of you.

You all say yes, and she pours you hot tea out of her spout into the three tea cups. Then she asks, “Now, would you like one lump of sugar or two?”

Ephemera says, “One lump, please.”

“Two for me!” Skuld says at nearly the same time.

“No, thank you.” You answer.

After putting in the sugar, the tea cups jump to your spots. While waiting for it to cool down, your waiter, who is Lumière, approach you and asks what ‘the lovely guests’ would like.

When you give your orders, Lumière takes away your menus and hops away to the kitchen. It doesn’t take long for your food to come out, but while you wait, you take a sip of your now warm tea. It tastes nice, but you wish you had asked Mrs. Potts for some sugar.

Instead of Lumière delivering your food, it’s Cogsworth. Of course, this makes sense, considering Cogsworth is probably the only object in the castle with actual hands. Thanking him for the food, you begin to dig in. 

It takes all you have to not be sloppy eating. You remember all your table manners -- wipe your mouth, don’t burp, say ‘excuse me’ when you do, nothing inappropriate, no smacking, no chewing with your mouth open, no slurping, etc.

After finishing dinner, and then dessert, you thank them for their service, they tell you it was a pleasure, you grab your stuff, and finally take Ephemera and Skuld back home to Destiny Islands.

It’s night when you return, and you’re all pooped from the day’s events. You return to the house and put down all of your stuff, too tired to put it away properly right now. Skuld and Ephemera are about to just pass out in their bed when you say, “Wait.”

They look at you with confusion, and you explain, “I got one last thing planned. Come to the beach with me. Don’t worry, it’s a small thing.”

Even though they’re worn out, they follow you anyway. There, all you do is just lay down on the sand and look at the stars in silence, the exact same way you had done when you had your first official day on Destiny Islands.

You stand up and take a deep breath. Your heart is nearly pounding out of your chest with nervousness. You're going to do it, you’re going to confess your love for them right now. “Guys, there’s something I need to tell you.”

They stand up too, worried looks on their faces that ask ‘what?’

You take another deep breath, a deep exhale, and start your confession. “Um, you two have been supporting me for over a year now, comforting me, consoling me, helped me with my problems and trauma, y-y’know, and, um…” No, you can’t blank out here. You continue, “Y-You guys have been really helpful, and I’d help you the same you do me. You really make me happy, and whenever I’m around you I get this...this burst of warmth in my heart. I-I…” You look down with a huge blush on your face, beginning to twiddle your fingers, “What I’m trying to say is...is that I like you...a lot, more than friends, if that makes sense. I hope this isn’t awkward, o-or anything.” 

Your heart is pounding so hard right now. You just did it, you just confessed your love! Even if you didn’t say love outright. You freeze, clench your eyes shut and wait for a response. At the same time, that rock-in-your-stomach feeling from four months ago returns, heavier than ever.

A chuckle. That’s the first thing you hear. It turns into giggles, and you look up to see Ephemera and Skuld laughing. You’re crestfallen. You’d expect they’d let you down easy, or even a simple ‘I’m sorry, we don’t feel the same’ would’ve sufficed. But they’re giggling.

You feel your eyes become wetter, your lip pursing. No, no you don’t want to cry, not right now. You’ve been doing so good these past months, but you can’t help it. You cover your eyes with your arm as the tears slip from your eyes. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t h-have said anything in the first place.”

You hear it stop, and Skuld has immediate concern in her voice. “Oh, no, we’re not laughing to make fun of or mock you!”

“T-Then why were you laughing?” You ask, uncovering your eyes.

“Because, we kinda...might…” Skuld tries to say, but her sentence is finished by Ephemera.

He says, “Because we like you too!” 

Your eyes widen. “What.”

“Yeah,” Skuld responds, “We’ve kinda liked you for a while, and we were planning on confessing first. We were waiting for the right moment, and we weren’t sure if you’d like us back.”

“You’re not saying this just to make me feel better, are you?” You ask.

“No, no,” Ephemera answers, “We truly do like you. We were laughing cause we’re more than happy you do like us.”

You begin to dry your cheeks. “You...you truly do like me back?”

Instead of giving an answer, they walk over to you, hug you, and do something completely unexpected -- kiss you on your cheeks. It feels like your heartbeat has stopped, and you go completely red in the face like an apple. Ephemera and Skuld smile as they see how red it is. When they release you, you cover your face with your hands, falling to the ground and laying down, smiling so wide your cheeks hurt.

“Woah, are you okay?” Skuld asks.

“Yeah, I-I just…” You can barely talk through your smile, “I love you two so much!!”

They give a small chuckle and lay down with you. You uncover your eyes so you can look at the stars again with them, big smiles on each of your faces.

All that can be heard is the sound of your breathing, when you suddenly say, “Oh, I just remembered!”

Skuld and Ephemera glance at you as you sift through your pocket, and find the thing you were looking for. It was three star shaped necklaces, one was colored black, another was colored white, and the last was colored green.

“I made these while I prepared all the things for today, and wanted to give them to you.” You explain, and hand them their necklaces.

Ephemera and Skuld inspect it with interest, and Ephemera asks, “What are these called anyway?”

“Huh?” You say. “O-Oh, um, what should we call them?”

You hold up the necklaces to the stars, and that’s when it comes to you, a name for these things. “Wayfinder.”

The other two give you a ‘hmm?’

“Yeah, Wayfinder,” You explain, “Don’t they say that if you’re lost, then you should let the stars help you find your way? Thus, Wayfinder. So, if we ever lose our way, then we should let these guide the way when we can’t see the stars.”

They smile. “That’s perfect,” They say in unison, “Wayfinder.” And raise their Wayfinders to the stars as well.

As you three sit there, a single thought goes through all your minds; our hearts are connected, no matter where you go, I’m always with you.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed!! Remember, this is my first time writing a non-crossover fic, so I really hope it was good!!


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